wammie wrote:...The waaaaay ambitious part of all this, the sequencing, was done by experts. What I've contributed is the selection of sample files and method of rendering (XMPlay) to make the recording.

Oh, and of course when listening be sure your player does not have any effects enabled. The simulations (emulations) sound more realistic if your speakers can do low frequency bass.

I've been pricing out a new PC build on Newegg, with a target maximum price of $750.

This will be my main desktop PC. I don't do a lot of gaming, but want to be able to run DirectX 9 or DirectX 10 flight sims with high detail, sometime in the future.

I have a Logitech ball mouse that I plan on keeping, so do not necessarily need one.

This item list includes some extras or freebies such as an 8 GB flash drive, Acronis True Image Home 2009 (free), Call of Duty game (free), and a few LightScribe disks.

I have a Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS sound card that I like quite a lot and would probably transfer over from my current PC, but I understand the onboard audio on the new motherboard will likely work just as well.

Please, if anyone has a comment on how I might reduce cost or increase quality with substitutions, please post (anyone have some Arctic Silver to spare?).

This is what I've come up with. Some of the combo deals here are only valid until May 31, and I want to act quickly on ordering and "making" this creature.

Well, you've done a good job targeting the Newegg discounts & combo deals. I am not a fan of Antec power supplies, though; in my experience their quality control is miserable. I've never had an Antec PSU which I didn't need to replace, even right off the shelf (though to be fair, one was because my power needs outgrew it when I added a video card later on). And you're opting for the cheap PSU that Antec has bundled with that Sonata case, at least with this parts list. If you want to go for a budget PSU, I've had good luck with ThermalTake, though I'd opt for a model with active PFC and an efficiency rating of at least 70%.

My advice: It doesn't pay to scrimp on the power supply.

As far as reducing the price tag on this list, my eye goes immediately to the video card. Microsoft Flight Simulator X is notDX10, and actually has remarkably modest hardware requirements. So, even though that video card is really a nice deal (and I've used EVGA video cards quite happily), if all you want is a decent flight-sim system, it's more GPU than you need.

I do have Arctic Silver.MS Flight Sim X Deluxe Edition is cheap enough these days that I'd consider getting it myself. (haven't been buying any new games)You'll probably want some control peripherals; keyboard & mouse don't really cut it for flying. I have an HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) setup from Saitek & it's good for "combat" type sims. You might want something more like this, though.

This would increase the total cost of course, but perhaps I can save $$ in other parts of the build. However, I don't want to sacrifice quality. I usually do a PC upgrade about every four years, so if the cost is more than $750 it would still be considered, as the cost over the time frame isn't that great.

Also, I might need a port controller card to add serial ports to this motherboard and maybe a parallel printer port. I have an old flatbed scanner with a parallel port, though it's very possible I can no longer find a driver for it; I might have to get a new one anyway.

wammie wrote:I don't want to sacrifice quality. I usually do a PC upgrade about every four years, so if the cost is more than $750 it would still be considered, as the cost over the time frame isn't that great.

OK, in that case, I'd suggest getting a decent case without a bundled PSU (you don't already have one?) and picking a solid third-party power supply.

Before seeing this post, adding the CPU and without spending too much time on alternate trade-offs, I get the order shown below. Shipping would be $13.02. I have a cream colored case, but I would now like black. I'd keep my current case for a file server. This combo is attractive, but I don't think I can use Radeon GPUs to run the Boinc client for World Community Grid.

Also, what does everyone think about trying Windows 7 RC? I'd have to reimage for M$'s newer releases, but it would be doable. Also there's no guarantee that M$ would NOT charge for an OS upgrade when Windows 7 is released.